There are hundreds flying, and newest model is not out of production.It's out of production though and it's unclear when it will be restarted
Produced | CL-415: 1993–2015 / DHC-515: 2022-present |
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There are hundreds flying, and newest model is not out of production.It's out of production though and it's unclear when it will be restarted
Produced | CL-415: 1993–2015 / DHC-515: 2022-present |
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But there is a shitload of foreign operators of other models used around the world though.
Canadair CL-415 - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.orgThis seems to be the most popular one, mainly made for firefighting but also has SAR and other variants.Canadair CL-215 - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
It is a shitload compared to the dedicated military ones...Less than a hundred ever built is by no sane definition a "shitload". They are niche aircraft that continue to exist in very small numbers for niche uses, but those niche uses shrink more and more as mainstream designs become more capable and cut the edges of the niche.
It is a shitload compared to the dedicated military ones...
Oh yeah, I remember hearing about the Foxbat (?) causing NATO nations to panic after it was unveiled. When they finally got their hands on one, however...Going by what at the time is said about the performance of the MiG-25, and what is discovered after getting the hands in one...
I use a gigaton of salt about the credibility of said open sources.
Even more, because no one has been found on the front lines, so, not even 3rd hand combat analysis exists.
Yep, but the fact is - until you get your hands on the real hardware, everything you 'know' is only the aspect of said hardware, nothing more. Can be shit, can be meh, can be real good. No (hard) data is no data.Oh yeah, I remember hearing about the Foxbat (?) causing NATO nations to panic after it was unveiled. When they finally got their hands on one, however...
Basically: "...The fuck is this shit? Where's the Soviet superfighter?"
So it is even worse then what we are told is what your saying?
Wait, fucking what? That I did not know.Yes and no. The Foxbat's high speed dash was an observed capability; the part that was assumed was that it was also relatively agile for essentially the same reasons that the Eagle is agile -- big wings with relatively low loading, large control surfaces, clean aerodynamics. It wasn't until Belenoko's defection that the West learned that the MiG-25's airframe was actually built primarily out of nickel steel, not aluminum and titanium, and that it therefore was in fact too heavy to have the expected agility, on top of the numerous soft factors limiting its performance.
It wasn't a stupid assumption -- the aerodynamic analysis of the airframe isn't incorrect, it's just that the MiG-25 ended up having to make 'invisible' tradeoffs for the sheer speed it had combined with the Soviet economy being more limited than we assumed (i.e., they couldn't afford a predominantly titanium airframe, which would have given it both speed and agility, but been very expensive).
Actually, it was less 'bad economy' and more like they were still working on expanding their titanium production and processing capabilities. People forget that titanium is a complete and utter bitch to work with, as in 'makes how long it took us to use aluminum en mass look a hop and a skip' bitch, and the only reason that it is (comparatively) short was that we had a lot more people to throw at the problem. Then there is the fact that titanium alloys are extremely recent; it took us a while before the SR-71 got the specific titanium alloy we ended up with, allowing it to survive the speeds it would achieve... and that's with the fact that we were behind in titanium technology.Wait, fucking what? That I did not know.
I can understand why the Soviets were pissed -- it wasn't just the leakage of perceived technologies and capabilities to the West, but the unspoken truths of how bad their economies and financial plannings were in total.
Kinda like "we eat three bowls of rice per day as meals" having the unspoken truth/fact of "we can't afford anything but rice three times a day compared to our neighbours, who eat meat stew three times a day. With snacks. And cola/beer".
Wait, fucking what? That I did not know.
Foxbat also had non-flush rivets, the thing was hobbled by bad industry all the way down.
Just stumbled across this during my wanderings.
The MiG-25 Foxbat still holds one impressive record of highest altitude for an aircraft using jet engines established almost fifty years ago. I wonder what the other twenty eight records were.